To charge or not to charge.... wtf is the question?

[Pipsta]

The cart for the most part runs fine, headlights on and bright, everything seems good. Then it seems like sometimes the S/G is not charging, lights dim, has trouble staying running. Or will die out and not start right away. After waiting a short time anywhere from 15 to 30 mins it will start and run again as if nothing was wrong at all.

Got it back to the garage last night and checked the battery charge and it was discharged. It was at 11.8. I checked the changing at the battery terminals while in maint mode and the rpms at normal running levels and it was at 12.8ish. This was right after I drove it back about a miles with no problems. I had the lights on while doing this testing, too.

I did some searching here and I got some ideas. I'd love to check some stuff like the changing going to the volt reg and from the S/G but right now I'm 25 miles from the cart and not able to go to it. Pitfalls of not trailering in the cart every night for work, which I don't have a trailer for it yet, anyhoo. I pulled the battery and am charging it now. Will do some checking when I get to the cart but looking for any insight before I get to it.

[Lightninlarry]

I bought my cart from disney as well and it also had a charging problem... lights were very dim when gas pedal was barley pushed! battery was not charging until you pressed pedal to the floor!! make sure all your linkage settings are correct because all of these carts that come from disney have been tweeked by some broom pusher that wants to go fast and doesnt know what he is doing!

[scottyb]

Simply check and note battery voltage. Start the cart in maintenance mode of neutral and rev it up while reading the voltmeter.... is it recharging or not?

[Pipsta]

I think my issue is that sometimes it is charging and sometimes it's not. I've checked it a few different times and twice it was charging close to 15v and most recently last night I was getting around 12.8v. That was after my issue with dimming lights and dieing cart one minute, then bright lights and no running problems at all the next minute.

So would a fluctuating charge voltage be a volt reg going bad or possibly the start/gen going bad? I know it could be a bad connection but I'm pretty sure those are tight and clean. Although I'll check the ground off the engine and start/gen tonight before I start for the night.

LOL to the guy who also has a Disney cart. There have been some screwy things I've come across but so far it's been fairly solid condition wise and running wise other than the screwy little things.

[Pipsta]

I've found some things about my charging issue but haven't quite nailed it down yet. When the engine is cold it charges at 15v with reading taken at the battery. In an hour after running almost non-stop when it's hot it was charging at 13.8 at the battery. Then after 3 hours of running nearly non-stop the charging was down to 12.3 at the battery.

I guess I'm gonna have to drive it around one afternoon and get it hot after an hour or so and then do some testing. Right now by the time I'm done driving to get it all hot and bothered and not charging it's 3am and I'm too tired to be messing around on the cart.

Until then I've been pulling the battery after every night of driving it and charging it at home. I hopefully will do the testing in the daylight hours and figure it out this week.

[BLACK DEATH]

Can I ask where do you get to drive your cart around for that long and not get tired of driving? Ive seen a lot cars do the same thing when they get hot.

[Pipsta]

I drive it around an old town area that is about a mile or so around. I provide a shuttle service to people. I take people to/from bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels around the old town area and even some residences in the immediate area. So I drive from about 8-10pm until 3am 4-6 nights a week. The cart is pretty much running and moving the whole time I'm out there.

I spent all my savings on the cart purchase, transporting it to me and start up costs which had me literally down to less than $20 getting this going. I was having issues with the cart that was keeping me from making any money and my bills were on last notice getting ready to be cut off all over the place. This past weekend was the first chance I had to run but only got in about half the hours I could have so I'm still just getting caught up on bills and have very little to throw at the cart as far as money. So I've been doing all the work on it and trying to make due with as little as possible. I've been fortunate so far as most of the stuff has been cheap fixes, just pain in the azz to find stuff.

Hopefully within a month or so I'll be able to do the upgrades I want to do.

[adiexp]

hi
not sure if I can help but looking at what you have said I would try and change the battery for a new one. I now you said in previous posts you had fitted one, but was that before or after you had the trapped cable incident. If the battery was fitted before that then it could be damaged. So not holding a full charge and causing your S/G not to give out the correct charge voltage. A good charged battery should hold a charge above 13 volts or more even after it is stood for a while. If like on mine with a faulty battery due to a wire shorting out and holding a voltage of 12.7 the generator would only give out 13 and not 15v plus that it should do. It did not charge fully so I charged the battery (seemed OK) re fitted then the longer I used it the worse the battery got. I had the battery tested and was told it was faulty so fitted a new one and the problem went away and been ok since.

Good luck
Adie.

PS Which area do you shuttle people about.

[Pipsta]

Originally Posted by adiexp

hi
not sure if I can help but looking at what you have said I would try and change the battery for a new one. I now you said in previous posts you had fitted one, but was that before or after you had the trapped cable incident. If the battery was fitted before that then it could be damaged. So not holding a full charge and causing your S/G not to give out the correct charge voltage. A good charged battery should hold a charge above 13 volts or more even after it is stood for a while. If like on mine with a faulty battery due to a wire shorting out and holding a voltage of 12.7 the generator would only give out 13 and not 15v plus that it should do. It did not charge fully so I charged the battery (seemed OK) re fitted then the longer I used it the worse the battery got. I had the battery tested and was told it was faulty so fitted a new one and the problem went away and been ok since.

Good luck
Adie.

PS Which area do you shuttle people about.

Yea the battery is new and I'm not sure if I damaged it any. I got 3 year free replacement so if I did it's easy to go swap it at the store. Seems like the battery is holding a charge well enough, though. But after running the cart, lights included for up to 5 hours with no help or recharge from the charging system it gets discharged and I have to pull it to recharge at home on a charger

[Pipsta]

Originally Posted by adiexp

hi
Good luck
Adie.

PS Which area do you shuttle people about.

Oh, by the way, I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I won't get rich shuttling people around. Just wind up paying the bills. Keeping the cart going might be more work than it's worth in the end. We'll see.